Deep in the Suffolk countryside, walking along a path flanked with daffodils, the last thing I expected to see peaking from behind the trees was an Italian palace.
Complete with four ostentatious Roman pillars, the intimidating rotunda sits at the centre of the estate, its grandeur is emphasised by the two single story wings branching out on either side.
Given the gloriously warm sun and the tranquility of the countryside, you could be forgiven for mistaking the estate as a little slice of Italy.
Yet despite the splendour of Ickworth House, resulting in a rather overwhelming first impression, the journey created by National Trust to allow visitors to explore the site from ‘downstairs’ to ‘upstairs’ has firmly secured this property as my favourite venue to date.
Because once you have been welcomed by the unfailingly cheerful volunteers, the house tour begins in what resembles a cellar with an elaborate boiler system. Which essentially is what it is.
Although the house was built between 1795 and 1829, in 1909, the owner decided to install electricity at Ickworth House. With no mains power, this meant creating their own using purpose built gas plants under the west wing of the house.
But beyond this cellar and a well-equipped workshop, is the most impressive part of all of Ickworth – an elaborate maze of kitchens, mess rooms and storage to ensure the smooth functioning of the house above.
Within moments, my companion and I were lost in this hidden city of rooms, stumbling across dumb waiters designed for luggage as well as crockery and dishes, servants’ bedrooms, groundskeeper offices and a vast dining room.
Of course the kitchen for the main house was as immaculate as I had anticipated, with every type saucepan, serving dish, utensil and jug you could ever imagine needing, and many more you never would. It offered a glimpse into the effort it would have taken an army of staff to keep those upstairs, and their guests, entertained.
And once, downstairs has been investigated, the moment of the big reveal arrives. Ascend the stairs from the servants quarters into the rotunda above, and this is the view you are met with.
As imposing on the inside as it is on the outside, it is easy to see how the rotunda was originally designed to be an art gallery, until Napoleon seized the Earl’s art collection and that was the end of that plan.
Instead, the house is full of semi-useless rooms – this is the age of the ‘smoking room’ and the ‘Pompeian room’, whatever that was.
Having always been the little girl who lusted after the library in Beauty and the Beast rather than being swept off my feet by royalty, there is a soul-quenching abundance of books across the whole of Ickworth.
As well as the main library, which unusually has just two walls due to the shape of the rotunda, and is decked out in yet more pillars and copious amounts of silk and gold, there is an extra library halfway up the stairs which I immediately fell in love with.
Had I grown up at Ickworth (or, let’s be honest, attended a party there and had half the chance to sneak off and avoid people), this is the place I could be found. Of course the bookshelves always look more impressive with ornate leather-bound books, rather than my tatty copies of bestsellers salvaged from charity shops.
And if you are fortunate enough to have a day as dry and bright as we did, do take the time to wander around the peaceful gardens, some of which have been planted to continue the Italian theme.
I am genuinely saddened that this absolute gem is so far away from my normal base, as I would gladly go back as often as I could to enjoy this tiny corner of Italy in the Suffolk countryside.
A Year of Trust 